


The Shortest Distance Between Two Hearts…

by Metalkatt



Category: The Dresden Files (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-20
Updated: 2007-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27885442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalkatt/pseuds/Metalkatt
Summary: What is a smile?





	The Shortest Distance Between Two Hearts…

**Author's Note:**

> I would consider this PG because of Harry's mouth, but that's about it.

You sometimes hear the lovestruck say "She had me at 'hello'" to describe the moment he knew she was the one. I could never say something like that. It's too corny, and while I'm accustomed to living in the middle of a field of it, some things are too much for even me. My heart was caught not by a word, but by a smile. Not just any smile, but a wide, warm, open, genuine smile from a man for whom I'd thought all happiness had faded. A smile of shared triumph. A smile of pride. Most importantly, a smile of friendship, one that crossed all boundaries and barriers between us and put us on a level of equals. It was Bob's smile, and even after seeing him grin and smirk for decades, that one still ranks as the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

"Hell's _bells_ , Bob, don't these things ever stop?" I grumped, leaning heavily against the divan. Uncle Justin was going to be pissed that the ushabti were wrecking the room, but then again, I'd drawn them to the east sitting room, the one he uses with people he really doesn't like. He preferred nothing at all of himself getting into the hands of someone he considered even marginally unfriendly, and kept this room fairly sterile, full of reproductions. I'd figured this room was the best, relatively speaking, for this sort of fight, and had brought Bob with me as I pelted down the hallways, leading the golems on the goose chase.

"We really have to work on your control," Bob mused, taking a reflexive step back. The ushabti pressed forward into the wall of my circle--one I'd made large enough to contain Bob, myself, the small divan, and the area around a table where I was trying to work. They bounced off, painted-on eyes staring accusing at me as they tried to break through.

"Yeah, well, I doubt I'll master it in the next ten minutes." I was more tired than I should have been, one side of my face covered in bruises where it had met the wall after I'd slipped on a rug. Hey, the choice had been between my head and Bob's head meeting the wall, and I would heal. I didn't think dead bone could; he still had that neat triangle-shaped hole in the back that had never closed. "And, I don't even have so much as a chip of wood from those goddamned statues to work any sort of thaumaturgy on them."

"If you hadn't been so sticky on your languages--"

"I have enough problems making sense out of the root languages of English, Bob, never mind dead ones."

That earned me a frown. "Latin is not _dead_ , Harry."

"Muzzle it, or I'm gonna learn Klingon and use THAT." I heard him snort, amused. When I barked at him, it wasn't any sort of giving him orders; we'd established that already. After the time I'd accidentally thwacked my hand on his skull and daubed him with my blood, I'd learned that I could compel him if I wanted to, and I'd hastily worked a covenant with him to solidify into a sort of nonaggression pact. I didn't _want_ to tug on the geas that held him; I have always wanted him as a friend, not a servant. He merely rolled his eyes at me, groaning not only at the idle threat, but as a subtle show that the order had been appropriately ignored.

"Well, you're going to have to repeat everything exactly as I say--"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not."

Bob drew himself up to his full height. "Yes, you are," he insisted, a tone of command in his voice. It was enough to make me look over at him--I'd finally put on some height, and could look him in the eye, but I was in no position to resist that voice. It compelled me as well as any geas, and I stopped to listen. "Harry, we are going to have to do some serious entreating of the deities these creatures recognise, and I doubt Thoth and Bastet are going to appreciate being wakened from their slumber."

I snorted. "Neo-pagans bitch at them all the time, Bob. They're probably awake, but just a little lazy, like a cat stretching out in a sunbeam. They wouldn't get enough energy to wake up fully, but not able to sleep for what they _are_ getting. We just need to get their attention, is all." I looked toward the wall of the circle, frowning as a chair smacked into it and ricocheted off. "Question is, how do we do that without trampling all over the Laws and pissing off Ancient Mai?"

Bob shook his head, and I remember noting how his white hair sparkled in the sunlight that poured in through the windows. It was an odd thing to notice, I suppose, but I was rather achy and tired from all the spell-fumbling I'd done earlier. That's what had woken the golems; I was practicing my evocational focus, but a twinge in my leg from my bad posture distracted me, and the spell went helter-skelter as I broke off the chant for an involuntary grunt of discomfort. "No, contacting the Ennead does not require the opening of the outer gates. That's for calling older, fiercer things like Chattur'gha, Ulyaoth, Xel'lotath, Mantorok, and the Unnamed One."

"Uh, Bob, you just kinda called them, there," I pointed out. I felt the circle begin to waver and pushed another effort of will into it, glaring at the chalk with a defiant set to my chin. "Oh no, you don't," I muttered. "Get back up there."

Bob snorted. "Hardly. You think I'd say their names as they were meant to be said?" The former necromancer shook his head. "Never again, Harry. I learned my lesson. There truly are things that humankind was never, ever meant to call upon."

I nodded. "All right, then, Bastet and Thoth. Goddess of the home, and god of wisdom and learning. Why both?"

"They're a mated pair, and more willing to listen anymore than Isis and Osiris." There was a disconnect between us and reality, the rather leisurely pace of our conversation at odds with the rampaging fury of the half-dozen protector spirits who were not only pissed off at being woken up, but furious that they were not serving the purpose for which they'd been created.

There was a loud crunch-crash, and I looked over to see the mirror over the fireplace that had been shattered by one of the furious, life-sized figures. "Ooh, that's seven years, Ptahmose," I muttered. "Okay," I began, turning back to the man beside me. "Calling up Egyptian gods. You happen to know Egyptian at all?"

Bob stiffened, the corners of his mouth growing tight. "Of course I do, Harry. Unlike _some_ young men I could mention, I paid attention to my tutor. I even bested him in mathematics in my third year there, which was when he switched his focus to languages."

I nodded. "I'm with you; that makes sense. Now, I can cast this… this whatever we're going to do from inside the circle, right?" The plaster bust of Archimedes rebounded off the shield, and I sighed. "It's taking a lot of energy to make this a _physical_ barrier as well as a spiritual one, but I really don't want to be out there with them."

Bob nodded quickly, as if sensing the drain on me. "Right. Copy me exactly, Harry." If he could have done it himself, I'm sure he would have--then again, he would have been able to suppress them right away, if he'd been tangible.

I moved along with him, following his motions and noises--they were nonsense sounds to me, but I invested them with just about everything I had, trusting in Bob that he would help me do it right--or, near enough to right that the deities in question would merely be laughing at me rather than upset. It worked, more or less. I was rather startled to see a large bird blunder its way through one of the shattered windows, followed by a dainty, graceful cat. I watched Bob sink immediately to his knees and did the same after a moment's confusion. He said something in that same gobbledygook, and I was shocked as hell when bird and beast crossed my circle without breaking it, and came to regard us. They glanced over Bob, and then at me. The black cat sat on her haunches and tipped her head, watching me expectantly. The only thing I could think to do was extend my hand for her to sniff, which she did, and then moved forward to rub her shoulder against my arm.

"Harry," Bob murmured, eyes a trifle wide. "Do something."

I spent a moment petting and scratching the lithe creature, and then turned my gaze to the ibis. "I'm not really sure what I should offer you," I began. "I've never touched a bird before." I heard Bob groan in embarrassment, but pressed on. "Lord Thoth, Lady Bastet, I really screwed the pooch on this last spell, and woke up some of the big nasties my uncle snatched from somewhere. Could you put them back to sleep, please?"

"Harry, you are the most irreverent, disrespectful--" Bob's invective was cut off as the ibis tipped its head back and began to make strange croaking noises, and I heard chuffing purrs emanate from the cat, as well. The circle about me fell to pieces as Bastet flicked her tail, and I lifted my head to see everything around me shimmer. The ushabti clattered to the floor, wooden statuettes once again. The tragic sparkles of mirror-glass on the shredded rug seemed to fade away, as did the rug, and the looking glass reappeared whole above the mantle. I had the impression that someone had simply grabbed hold of reality like a blanket, shook it, and straightened out the patterns once again, restoring everything to its former state.

I stood, unconsciously picking the cat up as I would have Bob's skull, and only looked down when I felt the tickle of whiskers on my neck. "Oh, crimeny, I'm sorry!" I put her gently down on her delicate paws, and she regarded me for a moment before she sauntered off, the ibis flying ahead of her. Bob rose, too, evidently as awestruck as I was.

"You called down two of the Ennead," he began, voice distant. "And, they laughed."

I furrowed my brow. "Is that what that was? I thought he was horking out some sort of spell."

For the first time in the entire time I'd known him, my friend looked on me with amazement, and a little fear. "You don't understand, Harry. You _called down_ two gods. You didn't invite them. You didn't beg. You called them here, and they weren't angry with you. You didn't command them, didn't establish a control and force them. Stars above, Harry, even your uncle doesn't have such reserves."

I shook my head. "It was just as much you as me, Bob. I never could have done this without your help--and, I'll remind you that I didn't command it of _you_ , either."

He stood there stunned for another moment, and then his face split into that smile. Bob has a mouth made for smiling; it's wide and filled with mostly straight, even teeth (save his eyeteeth, which are slightly crooked), and given the time and place where he'd lived, that was a real miracle. It's very agile; he can form sounds that should only be able to come from creatures who don't speak as we do. He has a slight overbite, but his jaw is so flexible, he can worry at either of his lips when he's nervous. It's unique, and I like it. But when he smiled at me then, it was like looking up at the sun with my Sight. It was everything perfect and good in the world, and it filled me with warmth and light so white that it scoured away any dark thoughts that resided within. I had loved him as a friend for what seemed like eons, but it was at that point that I fell _in_ love with him… and I've never fallen out since.


End file.
